The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-04-12

include all bridges and ferries used or operated
in connection with any railroad, and also all the
road In use by any corporation operating rail-
road, whether owned operated under con-
tract agreement or leases and the term trans
portation shall include all instrumentalities Of
shipment or carriage
''All charges made for any service rendered or
to be rendered in the TRANSPORTATION OF passen-
gers or property as aforesaid, or in connection
Herewith, or4for the receiving, delivering, stor
age or handling of such property, shall be rea-
sonaole and just; and every unjust and unrea-
sonable charge for such service is prohibited and
declared to be unlawful"
Judge Deadly then says: There is no doubt that
this railway and these steamers are engaged in
interstate commerce in the carriage of these
goods under the circumstances stated Any car
riage of goods which crosses State line is inter-
state commerce. and the fact that transportation
from one State to another is accomplished in
whole or in part through the agency of indie
pendent and unrelated carriers up to and from
the State line, does not affect the character of
the transaction in this respect. For whenever
is shipped or started therefor, it becomes the
subject of interstate commerce. and the carriers
employed in the transportation thereof, although
neither of them may pass from one State to the
other, are subject, as instruments of such com
merce. TO national legislation and control. The
Daniel Ball, 10 Wall. 564: Hall vs.. DCuir, So
United States, 485; Wabash, etc., Railway Com
pany Illinois, 118, United States, 572 ex
parte Koehter, %, Federal Reports, 76.
But the interstate-commerce act does not in
clude or apply to all the instrumentalities or
agencies used or engaged in interstate commerce.
1t does not include any watercraft, unless it is
used in connection with a railway under COM
mon control management, or arrangement for
continuous carriage or shipment from one State
or Territory Of the United States to another or
to or from such State or Territory from or to
foreign country.
Nor does 1t include the carriage or hauling of
afyy INV nth xr,hA
riage and handling is performed wholly within
State, unless the same is directly shipped to or
from foreign country from or to such State.
The mere fact that q railway wholly within a
State and vessel running between said State
and another meet at point within the railway
State, and thus form continuous line Of trans
portation between the two States, by the one
taking up the goods delivered by the other at
its terminus, and carrying them thence to their
destination, does not bring the carriers who so
use the railway and steamer within the act So
long as the railway and steamer are each op-
Grated under separate and distinct control,
making its own rates and only liable for the car
riage and safe delivery of the goods at the end of
its own route the act does not apply to the
transaction. To make these carriers subject to
the act the railway and vessel must, as therein
provided be operated or used under common
CONTROL" a control to which each alike is subject.
and by which rates are prescribed and bills of
lading given for the carriage of goods over both
routes one.
On this apparently plain exposition of the act
the railway of the Oregon & California COM
pany ana the steamers of the Oregon Railway
and Navigation Company are not used under O
common control, management or arrangement.
in this respect, and, therefore, are not subject
to the act. although engaged in interstate COM
merce Each carrier makes its own rate, and
undertakes for the carriage and delivery of goods
not otherwise than over its own route. The
fact that both are interested in maintaining the
traffic between Oregon and California over this
route and by this means, to secure it
against the competition of the Oregon Pacific, is
not material. Each is at liberty, as far the
other is concerned. TO raise or further reduce it's
rates to morrow if the exigencies of the traffic
permit or require it. The present rate is not the
result of any arrangement between the two
carriers for a continuous carriage or shipment
from Oregon to San Francisco, and vice versa,
but only Independent, though concurrent,
reduction of rates by each over its own route,
for the purpose Of retaining the traffic thereon
against the competition of a rival route
The questions involved in this inquiry arise
on the first section of the act. Taking it's sew
eral clauses together, my impression is that no
carrier is within Its operation unless he is en-
gagged In interstate commerce by means of a
railway. or railway and water-craft under one
control, management or arrangement" and
that by such means or instrumentality he does
actually and continuously carry goods from
within to without the State. or from without tc
within the same. He may form link or a line
to interstate-commerce, but if his relation to
such commerce or interest in or liability for the
carriage thereof does not extend beyond the
line of the State. he is not within the act
The receiver is therefore, instructed that he
is at liberty, so far as the act is concerned tc
make special rates for the carriage of goods
from or to points on the line of his road for the
purpose of obtaining or retaining business
therefor, against other carriers competing fol
the same But this direction does not apply t
goods shipped directly to CIR from a foreign
country over the line of the Oregon & California
road.